WASHINGTON &#8212; Rep. Tom Cole, in a candid new assessment of the state of the Republican Party, says the GOP lost its majorities in the House and Senate because of the Iraq war and calls for the party to abandon former President George W. Bush&#8217;s doctrine of unprovoked aggression.

Cole, R-Moore, who has spent much of his career working to get Republicans elected to office, says the party can make a comeback, both through capitalizing on Democratic missteps and redefining its identify, including on social issues.

Cole makes his arguments in a forthcoming opinion piece in a magazine published by Grinnell College, where Cole got his undergraduate degree.

In the piece, he says "it is clear that the decision of the Bush administration to go to war in Iraq cost Republicans their majority in Congress&#8221; after the 2006 elections. "Experience suggests that the Bush doctrine of &#8216;pre-emptive&#8217; war is ill-suited to America&#8217;s values, traditions and democratic institutions. It ought to be discarded.&#8221;

&#8216;War of choice&#8217;
In an interview, Cole said, "The reality is that if you engage in a war of choice &#8212; and Iraq was a war of choice &#8212; it&#8217;s going to become a partisan war. That&#8217;s OK I suppose if you win quickly. But I think once a war lasts as long as (the Iraq war) has lasted &#8212; March of &#8217;03 to November of &#8217;06 and of course still on to today &#8212; that it had political consequences for the Republican Party nationally.
"Certainly it did on the coasts, in places like New England and California. Again, it didn&#8217;t damage us equally everywhere. It didn&#8217;t hurt us in the Southern states. ... It did cost us a lot of support and provided a lot of fuel and energy for the other side.&#8221;

Cole said he still believes the world is better off without Saddam Hussein running Iraq, but he questioned whether Bush would have gone to war if the only reason was to depose Saddam.

"When you go to war, you run real risks politically, you run real risks for the country in terms of its unity and cohesion unless you&#8217;re absolutely certain,&#8221; Cole said. "Being very cautious about these things is probably a virtue rather than a vice.&#8221;

He said Democrats paid political prices for wars in in Korea and Vietnam.

Opinions vary about why the Democrats won Congress back in 2006. Karl Rove, the longtime political adviser to Bush, said on "Meet the Press&#8221; in 2007 that the main reason people switched was corruption within the GOP.

Cole has been in the U.S. House since 2003. He also served in the Oklahoma state Senate and as secretary of state to former Gov. Frank Keating.

His resume includes stints as chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, chief of staff for the National Republican Committee and executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He was also a longtime partner in an Oklahoma City-based political consulting firm.

Republicans controlled the U.S. House from 1995 until 2007. Democrats picked up 31 House seats in the 2006 elections and won a working majority in the Senate.

For the 2008 election cycle, Cole was chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, in charge of getting the majority back, but Democrats picked up another 21 seats. The Democrats now have overwhelming majorities in both houses, and the party controls the White House. Cole said the GOP can build coalitions to come back.

&#8216;Center-right&#8217; country
"The real issue here is not demographics, but values,&#8221; he said.
"And I think the country is a center-right country, not a right-wing country. ... It&#8217;s institutionally and intuitively conservative.&#8221;

In his magazine piece, Cole says Republicans, often viewed as rigid on social issues, "need to change the focus of the cultural debate&#8221; and "address issues with policies that promote personal responsibility rather than enforce social norms.&#8221;

He said in the interview that Democrats are having fierce internal struggles overspending, health care reform and climate change legislation.

"The normal strains of governing are going to create some strains within their party and provide us openings,&#8221; he said.

Looking back, he said, it was relatively easy to govern in the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union and with an economy expanding through technological advances. The current decade has been a different story, he said.

"Real history is happening again, and it&#8217;s tough on political parties.&#8221;

I dont know the guy but he sounds like a pansy ass, funny you trust a guy who all of a suden "changes' his tune when he thinks it will get him something. like being lied to or what? what was he before his big change? from his history posted looks like he was mr. big shot republican, so what is he now?

I dont know the guy but he sounds like a pansy ass, funny you trust a guy who all of a suden "changes' his tune when he thinks it will get him something. like being lied to or what? what was he before his big change? from his history posted looks like he was mr. big shot republican, so what is he now?

Click to expand...

Why thank you very much for not reading the article you just commented on. Pansy ass? Read his credentials please.

Trust him? Well, I'm a conservative and a Republican like he is. He is MY representative. All that being said, I've thought all along that attacking Iraq was a foolhardy action on the part of the neo-con majority that was in power. I'm just glad that some of them are finally coming to their senses and accepting reality and actual conservative thinking.

Useful Searches

About USMessageBoard.com

USMessageBoard.com was founded in 2003 with the intent of allowing all voices to be heard. With a wildly diverse community from all sides of the political spectrum, USMessageBoard.com continues to build on that tradition. We welcome everyone despite political and/or religious beliefs, and we continue to encourage the right to free speech.

Come on in and join the discussion. Thank you for stopping by USMessageBoard.com!